# Buying a Bulk Order from Your Local Supermarket? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 6, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-bulk-order-from-your-local-supermarket/745354 "2016-02-06T20:01:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mrdeals](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-bulk-order-from-your-local-supermarket/745354/21 "2016-02-08T01:21:36Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I gather you own a salvage store? Technically no, but a lot of the same principals apply. I deal with products that failed in market, excess, overstocks and damage. Salvage stores deal with repackaging damages, or cleaning products to make it sellable, (Wisconsin definition), I do not deal with that. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-bulk-order-from-your-local-supermarket/745354/22 "2016-02-08T01:33:27Z")
Anything that we stock on the shelves we will sell as a case for a 5% discount. (You may have to wait for our order cycle if we do not have a complete case in stock.) Anything that we do not carry, but that is available from one of our DSD vendors\*, we will order for you, but we may not offer the case discount, since we have to do extra work to bypass the order system to bring it in and if you decline to buy it, we have to arrange to send it back and pay a re-stocking fee to the vendor. Products that are offered by our bulk suppliers to the warehouse but that we do not carry we will probable decline to special order, since the hassle that we experience with DSD vendors increases by an order of magnitude to place special orders with the bulk supplier. Each chain’s rules and procedures may differ, of course. - (Direct Store Delivery–those suppliers that deliver specific orders directly to the store instead of shipping in bulk to our warehouse.) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-bulk-order-from-your-local-supermarket/745354/23 "2016-02-08T02:09:05Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > There are only a couple areas where grocery stores have significant markup notably in house bakeries and service deli areas. Things like canned goods not so much. Its not unusual for grocery stores to run profit margins of less than 5%. > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I’ve done it, on a product I particularly liked that they no longer stocked. He said I would have to buy at least half of the case of 24 packages before they would order it. When I said I’d take them all, he was quite happy to order it. It arrived within a week, and they called me. I didn’t even have to pay in advance, but then I was a long-time customer. > > Closer to 2.5 - 3% now, with the competition from Wal-Mart & Super-Target selling groceries. Profit margin is not the same as markup. It’s what’s left after ALL expenses - cost of merchandise, rent, utilities, taxes, salaries, etc. The markup for most retail is typically double wholesale (referred to in retailese as a 50% markup). > **[Rule the Market: 15 Retail Pricing Strategies (2024) - Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/blog/pricing-strategies)** > > Finding the best pricing strategy for your products is a balancing act. Here are 15 pricing strategies to help you pick the perfect price for your products. > [@](#): > > Most retailers benchmark their pricing decisions using keystone pricing (explained below), which is essentially doubling the cost of the product to arrive at a 50% markup. However, in many instances you’ll want to mark-up your products lower or higher depending on your specific situation. A store might sell a whole case at a discount because some of the overhead for that sale would be eliminated - no need for anyone to unpack, mark, shelf, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-bulk-order-from-your-local-supermarket/745354/24 "2016-02-08T03:20:32Z")
I didn’t read all the previous responses, but I have first hand experience. If you hit up your big mega mart, I’m sure they’ll get it in for you, but as for a discount, that’s going to be hit or miss. Your best bet is to go to the mom’n’pop store down the road (my store). They’ll probably give you something like a 10-20% discount on a full case\* or, if they don’t have it, they’ll find a way to get it and not mark it up to what they’d fully mark it up to. \*They/we do this because a lot of money is tied up on handling, storage, labor etc. OTOH, if you’re going to take a full (untouched by my crew) case, all I’m doing is keeping it in my backroom/cooler/freezer for a few hours. Even if it’s something I don’t normally carry and I’m only making a few dollars (where I might normally make, say, $20), it’s worth it because you’re just paying me to bring it in and hand it to you. It still has to be worth it, but when I can make 5 or 10 dollars on something that I can buy for 12 or 15 dollars and pay the vendor next month and do nothing but A)sit on for a few hours B)make my customer super happy and C)get a new, regular customer, it’s worth it. A megamart, on the other hand, they’re often times not as concerned about that. Also, sometimes the bureaucracy gets in the way of adjusting a price like that. TLDR, go to the small independent store for full cases. Oh, and don’t pull that BS where you say ‘so if a full case is $20, I’ll just take a half case for $10 then’ Nope, deals off now. I make my money because no one is touching it and I know that the next thing that’s going to happen is that you’re going to come in and say 'wow, that’s a lot, I’ll just take 6 of them…$5, right?" Hey buddy, take a hike. Joey P In the biz for 23.5 years now. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-bulk-order-from-your-local-supermarket/745354/25 "2016-02-08T07:51:05Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Profit margin is not the same as markup. It’s what’s left after ALL expenses - cost of merchandise, rent, utilities, taxes, salaries, etc. The markup for most retail is typically double wholesale (referred to in retailese as a 50% markup). > > [Rule the Market: 15 Retail Pricing Strategies (2024) - Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/blog/14122681-9-strategies-for-profitably-pricing-your-retail-products) > > A store might sell a whole case at a discount because some of the overhead for that sale would be eliminated - no need for anyone to unpack, mark, shelf, etc. Stocking/checkout/inventory overhead on a case of cans is literally a few minutes of labor. Grocery stores are not “typical retail” they use more of a blend of several other concepts the article notes (below competitor, discount, and loss leading). Grocery stores are one of the most competitive bloodbaths of the business world. A grocery store with 50% markup would make whole foods look like a bargain. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-a-bulk-order-from-your-local-supermarket/745354.md?page=1)